Close Calls
by luminare91
Summary: After a mission gone bad, the JL guys are a little down and it's up to Chloe to cheer them up.


**Title**: Close Calls

**Summary**: After a mission gone bad, the JL guys are a little down and it's up to Chloe to cheer them up.

**Rating**: T

**Warnings**: Um...I don't think this is spoilery for anything. It's really kinda of AU look at the beginnings of the league.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own, wish I did, fun to play with.

The mission had been a success. But it had also been a very close call. The team was lucky to have escaped with minor injuries. Lex was finally beginning to step up his game when it came to stopping them. There had been a secondary security system that none of them had known about or even anticipated until Bart accidentally tripped it. Alarms had gone off across the entire building and suddenly security guards who would have made most people cry for mamma and run the other way appeared out of no where. Steel doors had slammed shut across every exit and at intermittent intervals along the hallways, effectively trapping the team. It had taken some clever hacking on Chloe and Victor's end to get the security system disengaged while the others did their best not to get shot. They'd even managed to trip the sprinkler system so AC could manually open the last door, which refused to disengage completely no matter what computer magic Chloe and Victor worked.

Bart, AC, and Oliver had stumbled into the Watchtower about thirty minutes later, all the worse for wear. AC's knuckles had been bruised from fighting before the water came on and he was limping slightly. Bart looked winded, which was saying something considering he could run to the rainforest and back without breaking a sweat and there were holes in his sneakers. Out of the group, Oliver was definitely the worse off. He had a cut on his arm, bruises along the side of his face and probably elsewhere, and he could barely stand up straight because of a blow to the ribs.

Sighing, Chloe looked up from her computer. The silence was driving her crazy. She was used to the boys hanging around Watchtower after a mission. They'd tend their battle wounds and goof around, blowing off steam. At some point, the Xbox got turned on and all four of them would go at each other while Chloe watched from her computer. It inevitably ended in an argument, usually broken up by Oliver or Chloe. Someone would order pizza or take-out. The gang would gather round the table, stuffing their faces, and swapping stories about the mission or anything else they'd been doing lately. Bart would attempt to steal food from AC or Vic who would attempt to hit him. There would be shouting and arguing and laughing.

But that night, they were just sitting there. Even Bart, who couldn't sit still if you superglued his butt to the chair and then nailed his feet to the floor, was absolutely motionless, just staring off into space. AC was standing by the window, a glass of water in his hand while Vic was working away at his computer. Oliver had disappeared completely after Chloe bandaged the cut on his arm. He hadn't even stopped to kiss here, which, since they'd gotten together, had always been on of the first things he did when he got from a mission or patrol.

It was official. They were moping.

This wasn't the first time they'd run into trouble on a mission, but it was the first time that they'd been completely unprepared. Chloe knew that luck had gotten them out in one piece and it was obvious that the boys were brooding over it.

Slamming her hands down on the desk, startling AC, who almost dropped the glass and sloshed water all over his shirt, she stood up and stormed into the center of the room.

"That's it," she snapped. "You're done. All of you."

Victor looked up from his computer. "Done what?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"Moping!" she hissed.

"We're not moping," Bart protested weakly. He faltered under Chloe's irate gaze.

"Seriously?" she demanded, glaring at him. "You haven't moved in over an hour. That last time that happened you'd been knocked unconscious! Even in your _sleep_ you're twitching constantly."

Bart cracked a smile. "Been watching me sleep, 'licious?"

Her temper ebbed away slightly at the smile he was sending her way, but she didn't let it show. "Do you have any idea how many times you've crashed on my couch? Of course I've seen you sleep! Bart, you haven't even been on a burrito run since you got back, which means you haven't eaten in four hours! That just doesn't happen!

"And you!" she snapped, rounding on Victor who shrank back in his chair. "When was the last time you _didn't_ insist on going through the data over my shoulder? You're always as anxious as I am to get started! You get distracted before we're half way through, but that't not the point. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

AC, who'd been attempted to sneak out while Chloe was distracted with Victor and Bart, froze. He looked terrified. Chloe angry was scary.

"Don't think you're getting out of this!" she hissed. "You come back from a mission and start messing with Bart. You don't sit there all quiet and pensive. You play video games. You _do _ something. The last time I saw you this depressed, Eugene the dolphin had died!"

Chloe took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "I realize that this was a close call and that Lex came damn close to besting us. We became complacent. We stopped looking for him to do something different, which was probably what he was waiting for. But the point is, we did make it out, we took the facility down, and we learned a valuable lesson. There's no reason to act like we lost someone, to feel sorry for ourselves. Next time we go in, we're more careful. That's all."

Silence filled the Watchtower. None of the guys were looking at her. Her breathing slowed and she felt the anger drain out of her. Finally, Bart sped out his chair and pecked Chloe on the cheek.

"You're the best 'licious," he said, grinning cheekily.

AC looked at the TV speculatively. "Who's up for a race?"

"Oh, you're on, fishstick," Victor said with grin. The two of them quickly set up the game console and soon the sounds of their favorite racing game were echoing through the tower.

"I'm playing the winner," Bart shouted. "Right after I get back. I'm starved. Anyone else?"

Victor wrinkled his nose. "Not for Mexican. Not all of us survive on tacos."

"You don't know what you're missing, tincan," Bart shot back. "What about you, fishstick?"

AC spared Bart a glance. "Not really feeling the Mexican."

Bart rolled his eyes dramatically. "_Fine_. You don't know what you're missing. What about you Chloeliscious?"

She shook her head, mind already on Oliver, who still hadn't shown his face. "I'm good. Not really hungry."

Shrugging, Bart sped out the tower.

Satisfied that the crisis had been averted - who wanted pouting heroes around anyway - Chloe turned and walked down the hall. Watchtower had significanlty remodeled in the years since she'd moved in. It wasn't the bomb shelter it had once been. Each of the guys had their own room for when they were in town or for when they working late nights, as did she. There was also a room for all their gear, and a gym. Chloe figured that Oliver would probably be in one of the latter rooms.

Sure enough, she found him, still in full gear, with his hood pushed back and his glasses laying on the floor, in the gym. The targets at the far end of the room each held at least half a dozen arrows. He didn't even notice her enter.

Chloe watched silently as Oliver drew another arrow and fluidly fitted it to the string, pulling back in one swift, easy motion before letting go. The arrow soared across the room, hitting the target dead center.

"Is there a reason you're trying to kill the targets?" she asked softly.

Oliver didn't look at her. "Lex almost got the best of us," he said tightly.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "And that's reason for you to shoot your fingers off?"

He hesitated slightly before raising the bow and firing again. "I can't let it happen again."

"You? You think this is your fault?"

"I should have seen this coming," he said through gritted teeth, clench yet another arrow in his hands.

"Last time I checked," Chloe said slowly, making sure he was listening. "I was Watchtower and you were the one prancing around in green tights-"

"They're not tights," he corrected automatically.

Chloe ignored him. "It's _my_ job to research the facilities, to figure out what their security is like, to guide you through it. But I didn't see this. If you want to blame someone, blame me."

"I'm the leader," Oliver snapped. "I saw that we were getting lax, and I didn't care. We were besting Lex and that's all that mattered to me. The team was put in danger because I got cocky!"

"And that's a new development?" Chloe teased. "You've always been cocky. I'm told it's part of your charm."

Oliver didn't laugh. She sighed again. "Look, Oliver. We all let our guard down, not just you. Vic and I should have known that everything was too simple when we hacked in. But we just assumed that Lex hadn't bothered to upgrade anything, but he never bothered with it before. Bart should have noticed when there were next to no security guards, but he didn't because he just assumed that whatever was in the facility either wasn't worth anything to Lex or that he thought we'd never find it. Hell, AC should have said something when the records were so easy to find. It wasn't just you, it was all of us."

"What if next time we don't get lucky?" he whispered.

So that was what was bothering him. She should have known. Oliver always had worried about his team. That was just the kind of guy he was.

Slowly, Chloe moved closer and put a hand on his back. He was tense, but he relaxed slightly at her touch. "That's a risk you guys take every time suit up," she said quietly. "This whole job is filled with what-ifs. Trust me. I know them all. I sit there asking myself those questions every time I help you guys through a mission, or through patrol. What if my information isn't up to date? What if there's someone else in the alley that we didn't see? What if the timers fail on the explosives?"

She took a deep breath before going on. "That's the problem. There are so many what-ifs that we can't dwell on them or I for one would sit in a corner muttering to myself, worrying myself into a catatonic state. If you spend all your time worrying about what might happen or what could happen, then all you'll ever do is worry."

For a long moment, Oliver just stood there, giving no indication that he had even heard her. When several minutes had passed, Chloe let her hand fall from his back. But before she could turn to leave the room, he caught her arm, spun her around, and pulled her to him. Chloe automatically wrapped her arms around him, burying her head against his chest.

"What would we do without you?" Oliver chuckled quietly.

"Descend into misery and implode?" Chloe suggested.

He laughed and kissed her gently. "Sounds about right."

"That," Chloe frowned, "Is not a kiss."

Grinning, her pulled her closer again, kissing her senseless. "I wouldn't want to disappoint," he murmured against her lips before moving to kiss her neck.

"You're not," she assured him.

Oliver pulled away before things could get too heated. After Bart had walked in on them half naked, they'd been careful not to take things too far. Bart had moaned about being scarred and losing his 'licious for weeks.

The sound of loud thump brought their attention back to reality. Chloe groaned. "What do you want to be they're killing each other over the Xbox."

"Please," Oliver scoffed. "That's a sucker bet."

Laughing the two hurried down the hall to the main room where AC and Bart were rolling on the floor while Victor egged them on. At the sight of Oliver and Chloe, he abruptly stopped and hurried over to the Watchtower station where Chloe had previously been going over intel.

"Smart move," she murmured.

Olive grinned before striding over to the brawling superheroes and attempted to pull them apart.

_Author's Note: Well there you go. I got this idea while waiting for my Philosophy class to start. Please, please, please review. (I am not above begging :D It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and when I feel like that, the muse sings and I write some more.)_


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